"Which Side Are You On?"

Written in 1931 by Florence Reece, "Which Side Are You On?" was intended specifically as a song to be sung by the United Mine Workers in Harlan County, Kentucky. Reece's husband was an organizer for the union in the storied mining area and Reece herself was an activist and organizer, a poet and songwriter. Reece grew up the daughter of a coal miner and was well-versed in the hardships of the trade by the time she married labor activist Sam Reece later in life.

She appears in the documentary Harlan County USA singing the song, which quickly became an anthem of the labor movement after it was collected by Pete Seeger and recorded by his group the Almanac Singers in 1940 (purchase/download).

The Almanacs were a collective of folksingers and songwriters based in New York City in the early 1940s. The troupe included Seeger, Lee Hays - with whom Seeger would later form the Weavers - Woody Guthrie, Millard Lampell, Sis Cunningham, Butch Hawes, Bess Lomax Hawes, and several others. They were known for singing and writing labor songs at union halls and protest rallies, and found "Which Side Are You On?" to be a great rousing number. Its repeated refrain in the chorus of the song's title was easy for a crowd to glom onto and sing along with the song leader. Thus, the song became a bit of a rally cry or a chant, with union members asking themselves and each other, "Which side are you on?" The implied answer, of course, was that they were on the side of the worker rather than that of big business, which would seek to eliminate jobs or place workers in harsh and often dangerous conditions.

Lyrics to "Which Side Are You On?"
The original lyrics to "Which Side Are You On?" stick closely to the needs and interests of coal miners, with verses such as:

Come all of you good workers,
Good news to you I’ll tell,
Of how that good old union
Has come in here to dwell.

They say in Harlan County,
There are no neutrals there.
You’ll either be a union man,
Or a thug for J.H. Blair.

(Blair was the Sheriff in the town and was known for union busting.)

Still, other verses are more universal and can be - and have been - applied to other movements and circumstances. For example:

Don’t scab for the bosses,
Don’t listen to their lies.
Us poor folks haven’t got a chance,
Unless we organize.

It's the second half of this verse which has made the song so mutable for other movements. It was revived during the Civil Rights movement, with verses changed and updated to fit the times. For example, one version sung and recorded by the Freedom Singers included this verse:

My daddy was a freedom fighter
And I'm my daddy's son
And I will fight for freedom
Until everybody's won

Updated versions of "Which Side Are You On?"

The simple and accesible lyrical structure of this song make it easy to update quickly in an impromptu setting (i.e. activist demonstrations). A few years ago, Ani DiFranco updated the tune to fit 21st century struggles and ideologies, with verses like:

Are we just consumers
or are we citizens?
Are we gonna keep making garbage
or are we gonna make amends?
Are you part of the solution
Or are you part of the problem?
Which side are you on?

Billy Bragg evolved the melody to fit his own style, but kept the labor-focused anthem alive:

This government had an idea
the Parliament made it law
Seems like it's illegal
to fight for the union anymore
Which side are you on?

In addition to its numerous recordings, the song's title has been used for several books:

• Which Side Are You On?: Trying to Be for Labor When It's Flat on Its Back | compare prices
• Which Side Are You On?: An Inside History of the Folk Music Revival in America | compare prices
• Which Side Are You On?: The Harlan County Coal Miners 1931-39 | compare prices
• Even a picture book for children (released in 2011) titled, Which Side Are You On?: The Story of a Song | compare prices